Transition is a verb - do something

In the beginning, around 800 C.E., education was brought to England by the Catholic church in order to perpetuate the Catholic faith properly by the priests and bishops.  As time passed, the Catholic church began deciding to add various other disciplines to the curriculum besides the Latin and Greek languages that were used in Bible transmission and translation, works of the church fathers, and works of important theologians and popes, such as Augustine.  After 1066 C.E., the French took over the court of England and influenced it for about 200 years.  The French were a more liberal group, so they enlarged the curriculum, bringing in some of the literature of the great French and Italian writers, like Dante, modern languages like Italian, and some of the observations in medicine that some of the early doctors had recorded.  Education became, then, what the elite class of England thought was important to perpetuate.  Books were copied by hand, so there was a limited supply of them until people began to work with wood blocks to imprint letters on paper.  Then, in the second half of the 15th century, moveable press became available, and books could be printed by the hundreds.  Education took off... still for the elite class, though, or for those who wanted to  become educated  by the good graces of a patron.  More was added to the curriculum, the classic philosophers, for instance from Greece and Rome, and math made its appearance finally.

As England spread its colonies around the world, the educated elite took their ideas about education with them, establishing universities everywhere their footprints landed.  That was fortunate for America.  Today, the U.S. maintains one of the most developed university systems in the world.  And, of course, the public school system was born  to maintain the ideas on which the country was founded.  The elite of the country wanted to instill what they thought was important into everyone who could take advantage of the system.  Thus, they instilled the need for learning to read and write English, figuring math at a level above the four basic operations, trying to advance medicine through biology, and appreciating the tracks from the past with history.

That should still be the goal.  The curriculum should contain what is important to the perpetuation of a society.  That changes from time to time.  As one tracks change in education across the centuries, it is easy to chart the change.  However, if one is in the transition period of a change, it is not so easy to see the need for a change.  And that is exactly the position the U.S. is in right now.  There is a great need for students to learn what is coming at them, not the perpetuation of outdated modes, models, and subjects.  In the late 1800s, Latin and Greek were not important languages anymore, so they dropped.  As oil exploration became the fuel of the 20th century, Earth science became important.  As we develop our understanding of space and submarine life, we will need those disciplines to take the forefront.  As we change from a tactile society to a virtual society, we will need those who are very savvy in the virtual world, especially in finance, to show us the better way.  Money is already imaginary and virtual.  How can we deal in a cashless, paperless, but highly-valued barter system?

It's way, way past the time to match the curriculum to our modern needs.  At least half of what is taught in the modern schools doesn't apply anywhere in the modern world.  Everyone needs to know how to design and view webpages, for instance.  Learning doesn't need to be from a physical teacher any longer.  Math applications should not be for algebra any longer, but for algorithms and the syntax of computing.  Food will become a real issue as the world's population reaches 7 billion.  Our youth need to know a whole lot more about what the ocean can supply, like algae, or what adaptions can be made to grow plants in different environments such as growth without soil.  Change in curriculum is so very needed.  Those who can redirect need to do so.  India, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil have educational systems that are coming of age.  They will lead the way by default if transition is too slow in the U.S.  Progress doesn't wait on slow humans to act. It merely moves to the population that is ready to lead.